You have to forgive me for publishing this way too late. My NY-based friend, Yuri has been flooding my Inbox – nudging me non stop to post my thoughts on this another Clint Eastwood masterpiece, Gran Torino. His nudging has become unbearable already, I have to give in.
This movie did not make it to the Oscars but made a huge tilt in the box office and yes, tugged this heart of mine (cheesy, I know!).
*****
Gran Torino revolved around the latter life of Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood) and his “unique” relationship with other people surrounding him. Walt, a Korean War veteran who just lost his wife at the onset of the movie is a very grumpy and scary old man who does not really care much on other people other than his dog, Daisy, his very lovely vintage 1972 Gran Torino car and his lawn.
His seemingly “peaceful” life was suddenly altered when Walt got himself involved in the lives of his Hmong neighbors.
One of his Hmong neighbor is a very bashful teenager boy named Thao (whom Walt endeared as Toad) who seemed to be struggling to fit in the American society – well given the fact that they’re immigrants. To toughen him up, Spider – a cousin of his has been nudging him to join his gang. Initially, Thao has been rejecting this invitation but gave in later on.
As part of his initiation, he was tasked to steal the vintage Gran Torino lovingly owned by Walt. While pained with hesitation, Thao still went on in trying to steal the car – only that he got caught. When Thao’s Mom learned about this, she tapped her son to work for Walt for dishonouring their family. The offer did not sit well with Walt initially but took the “challenge” just the same.
Soon after days of having Thao around, Walt started to finally “loosen up” and enjoyed being with Thao. Walt treated him as a friend – lent and bought him tools, walked him around the neighborhood and introduced him to a friend who owns a construction where Thao was accepted to work.
As their friendship deepened, Spider started to create more chaos on Thao and his family. Once on his way home from work, Spider and his crew cornered him – beat him up, burned a part of his face with a cigarette and stole Thao’s working tools which Walt bought for him. When Walt found out about this, he ganged up on one of Spider’s friend - beating the hell out of him.
It did not take long before Spider and his gang retaliated – a shooting spree at Thao’s family home soon happened. While the incident was reported to the police, the officers could not press charges on Spider and his crew due to lack of evidence and nobody in their area wanted to testify, fearing that they’ll be Spider’s next target.
But something happened that did not sit very, very well with Walt. Sue, Thao’s older sister was beaten and ravaged by Spider and his crew.
Soon, Walt decided to take this matter on his hands by tackling Spider and his crew head on.
Hours before he confronts Spider and his crew, Walt finally took a confession – something his parish priest has been nudging him to do so since the death of Walt’s wife, had a haircut, shopped for a suit and cleaned his rifles.
At dawn, Walt locked Thao on his house basement simply because he did not want to tag him along as he tackles Spider and his crew. As he puts it, “You have your whole life ahead of you, whereas this is what I do. I finish things.” Gran Torino is a wonderfully made movie. It did not disappoint at all. What with the storytelling it awesomely boasts, this movie really tugged my heart.
PS:
After watching the movie, I wondered out loud - why did it not make it to the roster of movies in 2008 Oscar’s. I mean, did you see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button? It was not even an acting masterpiece nor was it faithful to the original story written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Well, that’s a different story altogether.
